Chambord

David's friend Senay was going to visit us this past weekend, and we made plans to take a trip out to the famous Chambord château, which is the largest in the Loire Valley. However, Senay had ticketing problems at the last minute and couldn't make it.

So we were bummed out, but decided to take our mini road trip anyway. On Saturday we headed out early-ish and drove about 2 hours south of Paris to Chambord.

It cold and windy, but the best thing about the lousy weather was that there were few other tourists at the château. We were free to mill about the grounds and estate at our leisure without worrying about getting jostled or stepped on.

We did something that we hardly ever do and paid for the audio tour headsets. Walking around like a couple of nerdy tourists with the devices pressed to our ears, we passed from room to room, looking for the points of interest that the tour pointed out.

Despite its massive size and decorative roof, Chambord was only a hunting "lodge" for royalty. So the interior wasn't particularly elaborate, and with the doors open for the visitors, it was downright cold. Fortunately, the staff had lit fires in some of the fireplaces and we took time to warm up at each.

One of the coolest things about the château is the double-helix staircase: one for up, one for down. Unfortunately for us, we didn't know which one was which and wound up in more than one herd of senior citizens heading in the opposite direction.

After a few hours we were tired and bored with the history of the wall paneling and tapestries. We jumped back into the car and were back home in our cheerful, well-heated apartment by the evening.